Category: Just Visiting

Making Connections – 22 April 2024

Posted on by Zogman

We were up early, packing our bags ready to catch the X3 that would take us up to the town centre.

It arrived on time and dropped us at the bus stance in Cumbersheugh. That’s where we caught the the Ember E3 bus, the electric bus. The driver scanned the QR code on Scamp’s phone and then we both scanned our ‘pensioner pass’ and we were on the bus. It wasn’t exactly silent running, but you can blame NLC or any council these days for not doing the proper maintenance on the roads. The system is really clever. The driver reads the display in front of him which tells him where his next pickup point is and when he has to get there. This wasn’t the X3, this was a real express, only stopping where there was a person waiting. It took us less than half the time it would take a normal service bus and were dropped off at the train station in Dundee in no time.

We were way too early to book in, so we went for a coffee and a bite to eat in Nero, then found Braithwaite’s Coffee shop which was closed, as were many of the shops in Dundee on a Monday. We wandered around the shops that were open and were surprised with the state of them. The big mall we remembered was now like a giant Barras Market. It used to look so grand with its three tiers of shops. Now it was just mainly junk shops and charity shops. We came away disillusioned.

We decided we’d better find the hotel we were staying at and after crossing and re-crossing busy roads we were there. Booked in and a very chatty receptionist told us the best places to eat in the town. We thanked him and found our room on the 1st floor. No view from the window unless you count Papa John’s and a casino as interesting.

We walked down to the promenade that runs beside the River Tay and visited the V&A which was one of my reasons for wanting to go to Dundee. Impressive from the outside, and almost as impressive  on the inside. A good few photos were taken, most really arty. It’s that sort of place.

Next on the schedule was food. We couldn’t find the restaurant the bloke at reception recommended, but we did find a Tapas place called Black Mamba and decided that would suit us. It was fairly good food, but maybe too much oil in mine. I think it was down to the Padron Peppers in a light batter. I enjoyed then, but they’ve kept returning all evening.

We walked back to the hotel and bought a bottle of Hortus gin and half a dozen cans of tonic on the way. The rest is a blur!

PoD is a view through the V&A to the Tay Road Bridge and further on to Tayport.  The V&A is a great place to find silhouettes!

Intending to have another visit to the V&A tomorrow and my stated intention since this visit was mooted is to get some coffee beans in Braithwaite’s, the oldest shop in Dundee.

Šibenik – 9 August 2022

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We’ve been pronouncing it ‘Sibenik’, but the folk who live there pronounce it ‘Shibenik’. I’d assume they’ve got it right.

Looking out from our balcony at just after 9am, we were looking out over a bay to wooded hills echoing with the constant scratchy sound of a million cicadas. A couple of hours later we were walking along the seafront of Šibenik town, after being ferried from the ship’s anchorage over to the a little township in a tender and then on to one of a host of local buses out along country roads and dropped in a car park near the ferry terminal for Šibenik. We just followed our noses, admiring the expensive looking seagoing yachts, until we reached the old town and found a road taking us up and away from the sea. There was a castle right at the top of the hill, but we’d no intention of climbing up to it. A walk through the narrow streets that opened out into open squares with roads leading in different directions would do for today. Maybe a spot of lunch too.

It was very hot and we found a wee outdoor cafe where we had a beer and then decided we could manage some lunch too. I had a beef burger and Scamp had a chicken wrap, both with chips. Then I had another beer. Service was pretty slow, but we weren’t in a rush to go anywhere.

From there we walked back to the car park to get the bus that took us to the jetty and the tender back to the ship. On the way we passed a municipal building with a walkway over another path. Under the walkway a cat was snoozing in the shade. I grabbed a couple of shots, then thought I’d get a better angle from the other side. I thought I might have spooked it, but it just lazily opened one eye and then dismissively went back to sleep.

Big queue for the bus, but then four buses came at the same time. Same big queue for the tender, but there were cups of cold water ready for us on the jetty, so time passed quite quickly.

Dinner in The Glasshouse tonight and although the steak I had was lovely, the menu was limited for vegetarians and also for those with shellfish allergies. I think, too that we’d eaten more than we should have at lunch and didn’t really do the meal justice.

Tomorrow is going to be packing day. It’s a sea day and our last full day on the ship.

 

Koper – 8 August 2022

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Looked for a flea market but found a hummingbird. Read on!

We got off the ship early because there are lots of things to see in Koper.

We opted for the sit-down breakfast restaurant where you’re not tempted to go back again and again for more from the buffet, especially after last night’s Indian feast. After breakfast and after checking out of the ship, we walked out of the port and headed for the lift to take us up to the viewing gallery and the town. I was impressed by the artwork advertising what I think was a ballet company’s “In a Dark Rabbit Hole”. Weird black and white photos overlayed with splashes of black ink hinting at scary things. Very arty and very clever. I photographed each of the billboards.

We didn’t actually go up in the lift, instead I suggested we climb the stairs to the viewing gallery where we took the mandatory photos of the ship and also photographed our reflection in the mirror panels that enclose the lift that the lazy folk use to avoid all those stairs.

Once we’d taken our photos and got our breath back, we walked in to the town and admired the cathedral and its bell tower. Scamp likes churches and she wandered into this one after covering her head and shoulders as is required. I’m not really all that interested in churches, but this one really shone inside with sunlight coming in through the high windows. We walked round and I took some photos, listening to what I thought was piped organ music, but it wasn’t piped. Someone was playing this massive church organ with an assistant turning the pages for him. That made it even more impressive.

After we left we walked in through the narrow streets of the town. I found some graffiti that I thought Alex would like because he’s into that sort of thing. In one shop they had a handbag shaped like a full size acoustic guitar. A snip at just over €80 and another about 60cm diameter shaped like an old style alarm clock with a working movement, a bit more expensive at €250. We walked on!

It’s an old town with cobbled streets and narrow alleyways that are just asking to be photographed, so that’s what I did, while Scamp found a dress shop with a reasonably priced dress that she bought. We found a real old fashioned cobbler’s shop where you could get a pair of hand made shoes made to measure. Luckily we didn’t have the time to wait, but the shoes looked lovely. There was a beautiful Yamaha Midnight Star motorbike just on a prop stand I took its photo, also for Alex.

I was looking for a flea market we’d wandered round the last time we were here and eventually had to agree that it was no longer there. There were some stalls in a park, but it looked as if it wasn’t going to be open today. Such a shame. We had a beer in an outside cafe and then headed back towards the ship.

We passed busts of what I think would translate as “National Heroes” all with a red star on them somewhere, so probably dating back to Soviet times. Further on, there were planters with great pillars of red flowers and … a Hummingbird Hawk Moth feeding on the flowers. I can’t remember who saw it first, Scamp or me, but the cameras were out in seconds and we were hammering away trying to capture an image of this fast flying insect. I remember seeing one, easily twenty years ago in France and maybe one since then. You just don’t get them in Scotland, even with climate change. There may be some in England, but I doubt it. Eventually after I’d shot over 50 images, I gave up.

As we were walking away from the flowers and the insect Scamp noticed a man on a wee electric ‘Monkey Bike’ with his dog sitting quite happily on a rack underneath him. Maybe that’s normal in Koper. We bought some things to take home at the supermarket in town and got them through security without any problem.

Back at the ship, Scamp went to the pool again for a swim. I grabbed my sketch book and pens and went back through security to draw the cathedral and bell tower. I’d sketched it the last time we were here, but for some reason I’d painted the clock face black – it’s white. This time at the third attempt I got what I wanted.

Normal sit-down dinner tonight with the couple we’ve been sitting with. Alan is a Senior chef and his wife is a Tax Consultant. Both from Newcastle area. Good company. We went to an awful show after dinner. That’s the last show I’ll go to on this ship. I’ve seen school shows that demonstrated more acting and singing talent.

Tomorrow it’s our last port, Šibenik, and we get to go in the wee boat, the tender to shore, then a free bus to the town itself.

Elgol – 24 May 2022

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Today we finally made it to Elgol.

That strange place where the road leads to the sea and stops there. When the light is right and the Cuillins are lit by it it’s magical. Also when the light is poor, it’s mystical, seeing the mountains appear and disappear as the clouds break. Whatever the weather, you can turn your back on the crammed car parks, the pop-up coffee booths, the stalls selling trips out on RIBs to the islands and be somewhere else. Unfortunately there are masses of people arrive here, stop and say “Is that IT?” “Is this why we drove for miles and miles along a single track road in the rain, to see some mountains and some sea?” YES! “There’s not even a decent chip shop” NO! That’s part of its charm. Have I given you the impression that, I like Elgol?

It is a long drive from Staffin. All the way south to Broadford on the ‘main’ road. Then onto the single track road out to the west to Elgol. It’s around 55 miles and takes about one and a half hours. Going back it’s another 55 miles and another hour and a half because there is no alternative route. We stopped for petrol in Portree on the way down and drove down to just past Broadford where we stopped at Loch Cill Chriosd. A lovely quiet spot with beautiful views on a good day and today was a good day. There’s an old ruin of a church there, the Church of Kilchrist, but I was more interested in the landscape round the loch which is almost covered with rushes. On a day with little wind, the loch produces beautiful reflections. It was almost perfectly still today, although there was a shower of rain. Photos taken we pressed on to Elgol.

It was really busy. Cars and vans of the camper variety parked everywhere and anywhere. Scamp saw a likely place to park up near the village hall. There was one space left. Luckily we only had one car. She took some photos and then went to the village hall which had a tea shop beside it. I’d remembered my boots this time, so I headed down to the ‘beach’. As I’ve said before ‘beach’ is a misnomer. There’s no way you could erect your deck chair on this beach with rocks that are graded from fist sized stones to man sized boulders (or should that be ‘person sized?). However, those boulders didn’t stop a bridal party in suits and sticky-out white dress tying the knot beside the big eroded cliff! I was a bit peeved at first because that was one of the spots I wanted to photograph, but they were there first and I was only a nuisance photog who would have to be photoshopped out of their photos later.

The weather was jsut perfect and I got the photos I wanted with the equipment I wanted to use. I’d brought my old 10-20mm Sigma ultra-wide lens, fitted on the A6000 camera. It’s a really good lens that only works in manual these days, but I don’t mind that because it produces such good results. I’d brought the A7iii and kit lens as well, but having both meant I didn’t have to swap lenses. Someone had been thoughtful enough to sail a three masted sailing ship into position below one of the mountains as an extra little interest point.
After a while I’d taken all the photos I wanted and headed back up the steep hill to the tea shop where I thought Scamp would be waiting, but she was off on her own climbing a hill to another viewpoint, but had seen me and come back down again. I know now that we should have walked back up to the viewpoint, but honestly I was knackered with climbing that hill. A cup of tea helped and then we drove back those 55 miles to the house.

Earlier in the day we’d said goodbye to June and Ian who were off in the morning with Jackie to catch the bus that would take them down to Glasgow. I didn’t really envy them the trip, with their first, and only, stop in Fort William. Then the next half of the journey to Glasgow itself, then another bus to Cumbersheugh. In another way I did envy them the ability to just sit there in relative comfort instead of having to drive down the road. That’s what we’d have to do tomorrow.

We’d been invited to Jackie and Murdo’s for dinner. It was a reasonably comfortable night, so we just walked down to Burnside. I was cautious with my alcohol intake because I knew I was driving us home the next day. Scamp got the offer of a dress for the next wedding from Jackie, an offer she couldn’t or wouldn’t refuse, so we carried that back to the house later. We’d still a few things to pack, so with that done we went to bed, because tomorrow was going to be a long day.

PoD just had to be Elgol!

The only plan for tomorrow was to stop at Columba for a slice or two of the wedding cake, then drive, drive, drive.

Off to the big city – 19 May 2022

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Today we set off to visit the big city – Portree.

As usual on our first full day on the island, we set off on an anticlockwise tour of the island. The first half is the most scenic, hugging the east and north coast of the island on mostly single track roads. We met a few ‘Zoomers’ as usual. The ones who want to travel at 20mph to get a good view of the scenery, completely ignoring the signs that suggest that you use the passing places to allow faster travellers to pass you. They are just lazy or are so entranced by the views that they forget that other people behind them may need to catch a ferry, or be in a certain place by a certain time. Worse, though are the ones who own the road. They too ignore the passing places and just drive straight towards you and try to hustle you off ‘their’ road. They are the dangerous ones. We met both kinds today. We also met a herd of cattle, not ‘Highland’ cattle, just ordinary beasts with their calves running around their heels. Some tiny wee calves too. “Dog sized” was Scamp’s description and it was very true, they must have been fairly recently born.

We did the full circuit of the island and stopped at Jan’s Vans for lunch. It was extra busy today with many people walking round this hardware emporium holding buzzers that would call them when their table was ready. We didn’t have too long to wait until ours buzzed and we got seated at table 10. It was a 20 minute waiting time for food, but that didn’t bother us because we weren’t going anywhere in a hurry. I ordered “The Works” which is the middle sized All Day Breakfast. I’ve never been quite hungry enough for The Full Works. Maybe some day. Scamp, of course had Macaroni ’n’ Cheese with chips. We did have to wait about the full 20mins, but it was worth it. We followed it with coffee for me and peppermint tea for Scamp with two of the worst pineapple cakes I’ve ever had. Extra thick pastry base and a tiny teaspoon of pineapple and an equal amount of cream. Not good enough, Jan’s Vans!

Three German blokes asked a waitress for the wifi password while I was in the queue for the coffee. The girl rattled off the “TheRedBrickCafe” and was about to turn away when one asked her “Could we have that in English now?” Luckily she laughed and wrote it down for them. We forget just how quickly we speak in Scotland. There were three American ladies in front of me in the same queue, all asking questions: How hot is the chilli? Is the salad vegetarian or vegan? What kind of coffee do you use? Then a man sidled up and I thought he was going to jump the queue, but in a mid-western drawl he said “I hope you don’t mind, I’m with them.” pointing to the ladies. I said Ok, I’d trust him … this time. He half smiled and said “I have to authenticate”, and showed me his credit card. He was paying!

After we left with a couple of new cups and two microwave safe bowl for breakfast, we went to the Co-op and then home by the usual east side road. Stopping at Staffin Slip to check out the new hardcore that’s been added to the slip to provide a base for a new terminal there. Took a few photos there, but there are so many mobile homes parked there now, it’s difficult to get a clear landscape view. Driving back to the house, we caught a glimpse of the marquee that’s been erected for Saturday.

June and Ian arrived tonight after having had dinner with Jackie and Murdo. Scamp and Jackie had a long discussion about dresses and fascinators an combination fascinators and hats. Strange concoction!

Later Mairi who owns the house dropped in with a cake and some fresh eggs. Again we sat and talked. When she left, I took the two Sonys out and got today’s PoD.

Not sure what’s happening tomorrow. No firm plans made.

Emptying bags – 18 May 2022

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There’s not much you can say about driving 250ish miles with a couple of stops.

Actually it was a fairly pleasant drive up through the west highlands to Fort William where we stopped for lunch and essentials like beer, wine and prosecco, and also to take on some really expensive petrol. Not the most expensive petrol we saw, because further on in our journey at Loch Cluanie we found an out of the way hotel with petrol on sale for £1.99 per litre!

We passed Eilean Donan Castle, but didn’t stop although a lot of folk did pause to photograph the biscuit tin castle that isn’t nearly as old as it looks. No, we went on over the bridge which has lost some of its elegance with a new conveyer belt stretching out to a deep water mooring for ships to take on what looks like gravel from an excavation. Such a pity. I’d still photograph it if the light was right and then just photoshop out the offending structure. We made our second stop near Loch Ainort to photograph the falls. They weren’t as impressive as they sometimes are, but it wasn’t raining and there was the opportunity to get the camera out of the bag and I wasn’t going to pass up on the chance! It’s a long time, and many cameras ago, since I last took pictures of them. That became PoD.

We didn’t bother to stop in Portree, but carried on to Digg and pulled up at Jackie and Murdo’s house around 5.30pm. Not a bad time after leaving home about 10.45am. A cup of coffee in the house and time for Scamp and her sister to catch up on preparations for Jaki’s wedding. Just a quick stop to break our journey before we drove to the cottage. Our holiday home for a week.

Just had time to start unpacking all those bags and then we walked down to J&M’s, which is barely 200m from the cottage, for dinner. After dinner and after Murdo had shooed off his brother and his sister in law, we sat in the living room, me with a glass of very nice Johnnie Walker Black Label and Scamp and sister with a G ’n’ T, while Murdo took up station in the kitchen watching Rangers ultimately lose the championship 5-4 on penalties. Such a terrible way to lose. We spoke to Mairi later and she had us in stitches with her stories of the bride and the bridesmaids antics getting a spray tan for the wedding. A spray tan in Skye?

We left later and made our way back to the cottage, were I’m writing this.

Tomorrow we may make our usual journey round the top of the island and down to Portree. The big city!

 

A day at the seaside – 17 January 2022

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What better place to be on a bright and not too cold January day, than on a Scottish beach?

Scamp wanted to go to the seaside today, to the seaside on the east coast. That’s why we packed up the car with photo gear and drove across the country to Aberdour and down a road that led to the Silver Sands.

The Silver Sands are well named, because the smooth greyish sand does sparkle in a silvery way when the sun shines on it, and the sun was shining today. We drove down a narrow road with monumental potholes, unavoidable in places. If you missed one with the left tyre, the right tyre found its neighbour. Luckily it wasn’t a long drive and we got parked easily in an enormous carpark, one of about four as far as we could see. From there we walked down to the beach and those sands. I don’t know if they sweep that beach every morning, but it was perfectly smooth and not a lot of litter showing either.

We walked along the beach in one direction, and then in the opposite direction. We saw one girl wearing tee shirt and shorts paddling almost knee deep in the sea … in January (??) I thought at first she was just a child, but as we got closer to the family group, it became obvious that she was a bit older than that, and possibly crazy. Who in their right mind would go wading into the water at this time of year? Well, the answer came when we walked back in the other direction. Two girls waded out of the water, but they were dressed for it in wet suits and with those fluorescent buoyancy aids wild water swimmers trail behind themselves.

We left them to their exercise and headed for the cafe for a coffee and a bite to eat. Panini for me and a tub of chips for Scamp with two coffees to wash them down. The cafe was remarkably busy given the fact that it was a weekday and mid January, but I suppose it’s only the second decent day we’ve had for a long while. I imagine this place will be mobbed in the summer. We both agreed that we’ll come back and find out.

We drove back and got completely lost following the sat nav that was supposed to be taking us in the direction of Stirling. Instead it was determined to take us via Kincardine, so we eventually agreed to go with it. I thought we might stop for a photo opportunity at Torryburn, but the low sun was shining right in our faces and a low mist was obscuring what scenic view there might have been. We drove home.

Well, we drove home via B&Q to get some fixings to make that pedestal I spoke about. Our B&Q is a bit run down. It’s in a retail park where the only store that anyone goes to is Halfords. All the rest are carpet shops or cheaply made furniture sold at about twice what they’re worth. We are getting a new retail park with a cinema, a bowling alley, a hotel, restaurants and, well, anything you could want. It’ll be ready in early …. That’s the problem. It’s just a pipe dream and I’m not sure what they’re smoking in that pipe, but the story is convincing nobody. So, our B&Q had the corner connectors, but no screws to fit them. A do it yourself store that can’t do anything itself. We drove home.

That was about it for the day. I had a look at the photos I’d taken today and they looked pretty good. The new toy does take very nice photos. A view from Aberdour looking over to Edinburgh got PoD. I think Scamp really enjoyed that walk along the beach today. It certainly seemed to lift her spirits. It was a lovely beach and great views across the estuary to Edinburgh. I think it’s on our list of places to go back to.

Tomorrow looks like a return to dull, cloudy weather with the chance of rain for a while. I’ve got some woodwork to do, so that might keep me busy and we might get out for a walk later. We got a message from the couple who run our dance class to test the water for a return to class soon. Let’s hope things are opening up again. We’ll know more when Nick the Chick gives her proclamation tomorrow.

Strictly a dancing day – 12 November 2021

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But first a visit to the doc’s to hear the bad news.

I needn’t have worried. For the first time in years, there was no bad news from the nurse about my annual checkup. She went over my numbers and basically everything was fine. Ok, my weight was a bit higher than ideal, but as she said, “everyone has put on weight over the last year.” I left feeling much better than I had when I went in. Isn’t that what doctors surgeries are meant to do?

Next step was to collect together our latest ‘Small Electrical’ devices and take them on a one way trip to the skips. It was just small things like the old coffee grinder which would no longer switch on. Also my hard working Nexus 7 tablet. Nine years old and still working … well, it really depends what you expect from ‘working’. If you mean that you switch it on and it works, then it’s working. However those who want it to work about thirty seconds after pressing the power button and to keep working for at least five minutes after the screen appears, might be disappointed. I was one of the latter group. It had to go. It’s been replaced by a new Lenovo 8” tablet that is doing everything I expect from a tablet, except taste sugary, but that’s probably a different kind of tablet! The last thing to go was a half bottle of white spirit that I kept meaning to chuck out just for safety reasons. It, too, has now left the building. With all that done and after handing over an arm and a leg for a tank full of petrol, we were ready to go to Perth.

Drove up to a dull, dreich Perth, surely not how it was going to be this weekend? The hotel did nothing to lift my spirits. Allegedly the oldest established hotel in Scotland, it had hosted Bonnie Prince Charlie as a guest back in 1745 and I think it has been painted since then, maybe only once. Just a typical old, old hotel that’s like a maze inside. Ours was a tiny wee room with a lovely view of the carpark and the back of a tenement, but that wasn’t important. We were there to dance.

The was a table plan to consult as we went in to the ballroom and four dancers were already seated when we found our table. Standoffish? Just a bit. Condescending? Just a bit. Who cares, we were there to enjoy the dancing, not the company.

Dinner tonight was typical hotel food, I chose Melon with Midori as a starter, then Haggis Stuffed Chicken as my main course with Meringue and Fresh Fruit for pudding. Typical hotel food! Scamp’s starter was also Melon  but she had a main of Sweet & Sour Vegetables which apparently tasted brilliant. Pudding was a Sticky Toffee one.

With dinner over, dancing began and we threw ourselves in and had a great night. Not great dancing until the opportunity came for a bit of Salsa. Six of us could dance Cuban salsa and about six others who took to the floor danced ballroom salsa. I didn’t get a chance to see what their dancing was like, I was too busy dancing salsa.

By midnight I was totally beat, physically, as was Scamp, but we were both buzzing when we struggled through the maze to go to bed.

PoD was a photo taken in the afternoon, through the bedroom window of the backside of Perth!

Early start tomorrow for a dance lesson then an afternoon free before the formal dance at night.

Walking on the railroad – 12 September 2021

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Today we went for a walk along the old railway from Kirkby Stephen to somewhere else.  A place called Nateby, where the railway path stops and a real steam railway takes over.

Parked at the school in Kirkby Stephen and walked through a closed town.  Nothing open. Well, it was Sunday.

We walked along a path we’d taken last year and using muscle memory as our guide, found our way up on to the path of the railway and along two of the three viaducts and on until we found the third viaduct which our path ran parallel to. We should probably have walked under it to complete the trilogy and take a look at the steam railway, but instead we followed the river downstream through two fields. The second field had disinterested sheep in it. They looked, saw us and went back to eating the grass. At the end of the track we found a totally unintelligible  sign written in legalese which seemed to say that we had to go back. We did what I always do in a situation like this. We followed the path and ignored the sign. If you can’t write English in England then don’t write this gibberish. Found our way back to Kirkby Stephen and from there back to the car.

Back at the house we arrived before the other two and grabbed the garage again.

I was chef for the night and I made the worst paella I’ve made in a long time. Really difficult to make a meal to serve 4 when you’re used to making it for 2. It’s not simply a case of doubling the ingredients. Also, trying to use someone else’s cooker didn’t help. Those are excuses, not reasons. As my dad would have said, Covered Lies. I will make something better next time.

Watched more Spitting Image tonight. Some episodes funnier than others.

PoD was a symphony of greens taken on the walk along the old railway.

Scamp may go looking for a pair of boots tomorrow as hers are hurting her feet.

Brough Castle revisited – 11 September 2021

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First day walk about.

We drove into Kirkby Stephen which is the nearest town and parked at the main carpark beside the auction mart. Carpark was really busy, even for a Saturday, but we found a space. The church bells were ringing and we assumed it was a wedding. Lots of well dressed people heading for the church and that’s what initially gave Scamp the inkling that it wasn’t a wedding. They weren’t dressed for a wedding apparently. It turned out it was it was a memorial for a woman called Joan Johnstone who was an important local Councillor.

We walked over Frank’s Bridge. Not a clue who Frank was, then around the cricket pitch looking for the path to take us up to the viewpoint on the hill which sort of overlooks the town. Eventually found that I’d led us the wrong way. How strange! ?. We walked back, but couldn’t find any place to have lunch. Everywhere was full or closed. Presumably so the owners could get to the memorial service. Scamp got ten allium bulbs from the same shop we bought last year’s bulbs from and they turned out so well. With that done we chose to drive to Brough to see if it was open today.

Brough wasn’t nearly as big as Kirkby Stephen. It seemed to comprise of two streets at right angles to each other and a whole host of scarecrows. Lots of the houses had these, sometimes creepy, statues outside. We didn’t stop, but we did find a sign pointing to Brough Castle which we’d visited many years ago. When we stopped there on the way home from a visit down south we had lunch at the tea shop there and today we were happy to see it was still there. There were loads of scarecrows in the surrounding streets too, but not as creepy as the ones in Brough. After coffee and a warm, but not hot, panini each we went for a walk round the castle. The views from it were excellent and all under a blue sky with bubbly clouds too. I took lots of photos and so did Scamp. We walked round the village next and took in the Scarecrow Festival, because that’s what it was.

PoD was a view of Brough Castle with a few sheep and a horse to fill up that empty green space.

Jamie and Simonne were cooking tonight. Beetroot falafels with a green salad – we must try that.

Watched the strange new qualifying for F1 tonight understood it a bit more than last time.  Then we watched a few episodes of Spitting Image which was repeats on Britbox and therefore slightly out of sync with life in 2021, but still funny.

Tomorrow we may go for a longer walk along the viaduct path.